The only way I know how to rush a brisket is to start it in a smoker and then finish it in the oven. First you will have to give it one hour of heavy smoking in the smoker at 225 degrees, and then you’ll wrap it in foil (with some of the mop sauce), and finish in a 325-degree oven until the internal temp reaches 195 degrees. A 5 lbs brisket cooked this way will take about 4 hours to get done. As YB mentioned, “some things can not be rushed”. Now don’t expect the same results as a traditional smoking method, but it will be decent.

Fri Jun 11, 2004 9:03 pm

Guest

I don't plan on rushing it, but my 15 pound brisket would take at least 20 hours. Plus there are just 3 of us with teeth in my family. As much as I know he would like it my 3 month old won't be joining us.

I would take Z's and YB's suggestion's about not rushing a brisket, or anything else in the smoker, for that matter.

But, if you were going to trim = cut, a brisket for some reason, you would want to remove meat from the thin end. The reasoning is that you would want to try and make the piece of meat as uniform in thickness as possible, which will result in it cooking more uniformly. YB2

I was typing this post while you entered your post above, didn't realize it was such a large brisket

Your best bet would be to cut it into two pieces, the flat half and the point half. This is the way most meat stores cut the whole brisket. The brisket is almost shaped like a triangle. If you can imagine cutting a triangle in the middle, you will have a flat part (most common cut), and pointy part. Both cuts are equally good. This way you’ll have two portions to cook now, and one to freeze for later.
I hope this helps (Don’t mind the primitive art).

I have cut large briskets like BBcue-Z has illustrated. For me, this was not to reduce the cooking time, but to fit the beasts into an upright smoker. It also allows for better proportions when serving a family of four. I didn't notice shortened time on my last cook. Went from 7:00am to 11:15pm smoking to 205* and then resting and cooling to 145* until 3:30am the next morning. A total of 20.5 hours for 2 briskets (4 halves).